1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multilayer ceramic electronic component, and more particularly, for example, a multilayer ceramic electronic component including a laminated body that includes a plurality of ceramic layers and a plurality of internal electrodes laminated, and external electrodes on an outer surface of the laminated body.
2. Description of the Related Art
Chip-type electronic components such as capacitor chips and resistance chips are housed in tape-like packing materials. The packing materials include tapes for housing, which have a thickness. The tapes for housing have a plurality of through holes distributed in a longer direction. A cover sheet is bonded to one side of the tape for housing, chip-type electronic components are housed in the through holes of the tape for housing, and a cover sheet is bonded to the other side of the tape for housing. In this way, chip-type electronic components are obtained which are housed in tape-like packing materials (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-217317).
In the case of mounting the chip-type electronic component housed in the tape-like packing material onto a circuit board, one of the cover sheets is detached. Then, the side surface of the chip-type electronic component, which is exposed from the tape for housing, is suctioned with a suction-transfer device, and the chip-type electronic component taken out from the packing material is placed on the circuit board. In this regard, with the side surface of the chip-type electronic component upward, which is suctioned with the suction-transfer device, the chip-type electronic component is mounted on the circuit board.
In this regard, when the chip-type electronic component is a multilayer ceramic electronic component that uses a laminated body including ceramic layers and internal electrodes laminated, such as a multilayer ceramic capacitor, differences will be produced in capacitance between the internal electrodes and external conductor components, magnetic field produced by the internal electrodes, etc., a magnetic field between the internal electrodes when opposed surfaces of the internal electrodes are parallel to the mounting surface of the circuit board and perpendicular thereto. Therefore, the electrical characteristics of the multilayer ceramic electronic component differ and vary depending on the relationship between the opposed orientation of the internal electrodes of the multilayer ceramic electronic component and the mounting surface of the circuit board.
In addition, even in the case of multilayer ceramic electronic components in which a plurality of internal electrodes is not opposed, such as multilayer ceramic inductors, when internal electrodes are disposed in a laminated body, electrical characteristics vary problematically depending on the disposed orientation of the internal electrodes. Thus, in order to mount the multilayer ceramic electronic component onto a circuit board so as to align the disposed orientation of the internal electrodes in the component, packing is required to align the disposed orientation of the internal electrodes.
However, in completed multilayer ceramic electronic components, internal electrodes disposed within laminated bodies are covered with ceramic layers and external electrodes, and the orientation of the internal electrodes are not able to be confirmed. In particular, when the end surfaces of the laminated bodies including the external electrode are close to square in shape, the side surfaces of the laminated bodies all have substantially the same shape, and the disposed orientation of the internal electrodes are thus not able to be determined from the shapes of the laminated bodies.